ABB has over a decade of expertise in implementing energy storage systems

The physical need for energy storage in the grid has always existed, but in the past has largely been provided by the storage of fuel for fossil-fuel power plants and by keeping a proportion of capacity of power plants in reserve. With a move to ‘fuel-free’ power generation, in the form of wind and solar power, the way in which energy storage is provided needs to adapt. If there is no fuel to store, meaning that generation cannot be called up on demand, then the grid must adapt to store electrical energy after it has been generated.

In order to understand how to fully exploit the benefits that the functionality of energy storage in the grid brings, as these systems are rolled out; the first step is to ensure that the energy storage systems are designed to be controllable as an integral part of the grid. Sophisticated approaches need to be taken to assemble large fleets of distributed energy storage systems into virtual power plants that a grid level generation management system can manage in concert with all the other power plants on the grid.

With the physical assets and the ability to control them in place, the ability to make the right decisions on how best to manage them becomes critical. The right decisions can only be made on the basis of the right information, which means accurate forecasts of the state of the grid and of the storage systems themselves. Forecasting the state of such a complex system, with the vast number of dependencies and interdependencies, from weather to energy prices, calls for new levels of intelligence or ‘smartness’. A neural network solution can improve decision making by seeing, understand and learning from these complex relationships.

Understanding all of these pieces of the puzzle, from the power technology, to the different layers of control and communication, and how to operate energy storage systems to best effect is what is needed now, and where ABB fits in.

The above presentation will guide you through the different pieces of this puzzle and provide you with an overview of the existing technologies for energy storage and where these have been implemented in real conditions.